Whether they say hola, bonjour or konnichiwa, disabled immigrants can now be greeted in their native language when riding New York City’s accessible transportation. The New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, a leading civil rights advocacy group for marginalized New Yorkers, recently announced a ground-breaking settlement against the New York City transit system granting disabled immigrants equal access to public transportation by providing translation and interpreter services.

“Without this settlement, individuals with disabilities with limited English proficiency could not depend on the city’s paratransit system to maintain the high quality life they are entitled,” says NYLPI attorney Reena Arora.

In the lawsuit, the city’s Access-A-Ride program was found in violation of city, state and federal anti-discrimination laws because it refused to provide transportation to passengers speaking any other language than English.

Under the terms of the settlement, decided upon by federal judge Ronnie Abrams, the NYCTA has agreed to reform their Access-A-Ride program and provide translation and interpretation services to non-English speaking disabled individuals.

As a city full of immigrants, more than 1.8 million New Yorkers are “limited English proficient” with tens of thousands of them also having a disability. Nationwide, equal access to public services for people who are LEP is increasingly recognized as one of the most critical civil rights issues of this decade.

“We are pleased with this landmark settlement because it sets a strong example of how language access should work in all government agencies,” says Arora.